


The Importance of Words

by Ironinkpen



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Basically the PacificRim!AU nobody asked for, But he does like Korra, Except not a cop, F/M, Mako doesn't like his job, Mako has no friends because he doesn't NEED ANY FRIENDS I'M A COP BOLIN, Weaponized Assholery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 18:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2238282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironinkpen/pseuds/Ironinkpen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well, damn,” said Mako, fully at the end of his patience. “I must not have thought about it between the slaughter that happened under my watch and my brother dying in the hospital.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Importance of Words

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posting from tumblr. I'm weak to both Pacific Rim and Legend of Korra. This is basically my attempt to squish Book3!Korra and Book1!Mako into one story so hopefully I succeeded!! 
> 
> Enjoy!!

i.

If there was anything good about piloting, it was that it came with slightly better rations than a dock or wall-building job. Plus, it had a tad more security than his old job on the black market.

From what Mako had heard, people used to fight to get into a Jaeger. Pilots were the biggest celebrities: their faces were blown up to fit on billboards, toys were released in their image, their interviews held on nighttime news channels and broadcasted across the world. They were greeted after every battle with fanfare and congratulations. They received letters from little kids thanking them for saving the world.

Nowadays, the few pilots that were left were lucky to get a decent turnout at their funerals when they died. But. The rations were a plus.

His brother called him a pessimist. Mako fancied himself a realist.

Bolin, on the other hand, bemoaned the lack of Fireferret-themed figurines and Bolin-and-Mako banners. He always ate up whatever attention they received- which was admittedly a decent amount, since they were on the Atlantic Coast and there were few other Jaegers- and constantly badgered Mako about letting him get in on the  _real_ action. Bolin’s dream was to go to the Pacific Rim. He was convinced that they could do something there. That they could change the world.

Mako figured that his only luck in this life of his was that their immigrant parents had settled in New York instead of California before the war had started. If Bolin had been in the middle of all that, Mako knew they’d have both been dead by now. What Bolin didn’t get was that fighting Kaiju wasn’t a videogame-  _God, when was the last time he played one of those, the last time he’d relaxed, the last time he took a **break**_ \- or some pastime. People died. Their  _parents_ died.

Bolin was a lot like the kids who used to buy action figures of Jaegers before realizing that this war wasn’t something they could make fun of anymore. The only difference was that Bolin didn’t quite lose that childish wonder. Bolin thought Mom and Dad were heroes. Bolin wanted to be a hero.

Mako didn’t have to be told to know that. They Drifted together, after all.

Which meant that Bolin also knew that Mako thought all of that was all a vat of horseshit.

ii.

“Alright. We are ready. We are sooo ready for this. Are you pumped, bro? Because I am  _pumped!_ ”

Mako was not pumped, but Bolin didn’t really seem to mind all that much. He engaged in an exaggerated stretching routine, winding his arms behind his neck and pulling, rolling his head from side to side, and jogging in place. The fact that this made him less nervous went unspoken, but Mako knew. It came with the Drift.

“Alpha Fireferret,” The voice through the comms was crackly and hardly intelligible, due to the fact that the transmission was coming in from Hong Kong. Their Shatterdome faced a budget cut because of the building of the anti-Kaiju walls, and it was either the comms or the helicarriers that had to go. All they had to do was burden the Hong Kong Shatterdome every once in a while. “You’ve got a Category II headed your way, 30 miles off of Tampa Bay.”

Before Mako could reply in the affirmative, Bolin took control of the comms. “We gotcha, Boss. We’ll have that Kaiju butt handed to you on a silver platter- well, not handed to you, since it’s a little far, but-”

“What he means,” Mako interjected, “Is that we’re ready and in position.”

Marshal Beifong, not really the type to waste her time on things that didn’t interest her, proceeded as if neither of them had spoken. “We’re counting on you, rookies.”

As soon as the line went cold, Bolin shuddered. “Fri- _gid_.” At Mako’s look, he rolled his eyes. “What? We were both thinking it! Drift, remember?”

“We haven’t even Drifted yet.” Mako said. He stepped into his chamber and gestured to Bolin’s. “We should do that, by the way. Now.”

“ _Brrrr_.” Bolin put on a show, but still did as he was told. “Not really feeling the love here, bro.”

Mako sighed and initiated the bridging sequence. “Let’s get this over with.”

iii.

It was a Category IV.

The one thing about the distance was that sometimes, the readings were wrong.

iv.

The last Atlantic Shatterdome closed after the Tampa Bay tragedy. Mako and Bolin took to wall-building and poorer rations. Bolin shut up about going to the Pacific Rim for the year and a half it took for his arm to heal.

 _It’s better this way_ , Mako managed to convince himself between shifts. It wasn’t too hard, because all he had to do when he started thinking otherwise was take off his shirt in front of the mirror and see the scars he got from piloting their Jaeger alone, because Bolin was a little too foolhardy back then and ended up unconscious and bleeding and _dying_  and Mako was the big brother and he had to get him out promised he’d always protect him promised Mom and Dad that  _no matter what he’d always_ -

It was better this way.

v.

He’d never met Lin Beifong in his life but he knew her the second she stepped into the factory. Ignoring the fact that she’d just jumped out of a helicopter that was emblazoned with the Hong Kong Shatterdome’s symbol on the side, she had a presence that dwarfed even that of the giant wall just a few feet away from her.

Not to mention, she ignored everyone around them and walked straight to him.

“Ranger Mako.” She said. Her tone was enough to make him drop his work and straighten his back.

“Marshal Beifong.”

“Charming place.” The Marshal wasn’t known for making jokes, so he didn’t laugh. “But, we’ve got a better one in Hong Kong, you know.”

Oh, shit. “Marshal-”

“The world is ending, Ranger.” Beifong gestured to the construction around them. “Australia’s wall fell earlier today, as I’m sure you know.”

He didn’t. He’d been working up in the rafters- one of the more dangerous jobs. It had better pay, but no access to television or radios.

Mako didn’t say this. Beifong didn’t really strike him as the type to care, anyway. “These walls aren’t worth the shit they’re built with. Governments cut their Jaeger programs out and convinced themselves that this would be the safer alternative. I’ve got Unalaq breathing down my neck already. The bastard’s cut me down to 8 months of funding. My last resort is to take my business to that idiot Varrick, though I’d like to avoid that for obvious reasons. He’s convinced Kaiju can be  _used_.”

Yeah, Mako knew where this was going. He picked up the metal beam he’d dropped and adjusted his bandana. “With all due respect, ma’am, I’m not seeing the point in this visit.” A lie. “I’m not a Ranger anymore.” A fact. “I’m not involved in any of this.” A wish.

“Is that so?” Beifong raised a brow. From under her arm she produced a manila envelope. “I’ve got your record here. Says you never retired.”

A fact. “Well, damn,” said Mako, fully at the end of his patience. “I must not have thought about it between the slaughter that happened under my watch and my brother  _dying in the hospital_.”

“He’s not dying now.”

Mako felt sick. He turned and walked away. “I’d rather not have a repeat.”

“You wouldn’t be piloting with him, you know.” She called after him. Damn. He stopped. “We’ve got someone. She’s promising. She could end this once and for all.”

The absurdity of that statement made him look back. “End this. As in, destroy the Kaiju.”

“The Breach.” Beifong pulled a paper out of the envelope. On it was a Jaeger, but it was unlike any Jaeger he’d ever seen before. She was bright, painted white and blue- the boldest  _come-get-me-I’m-right-here_ colors in the bunch- and she was sleek. Smooth. Looked like she moved like liquid. “New, experimental Jaeger. She’s the only one with any compatibility. If this works, it’ll all be over.”

“Why me, then?”

“You can’t pilot a Jaeger alone, Ranger.” She eyed his wrist, which was just a little exposed under his jacket. The burns. He tugged down his sleeve. “We’ve got no Rangers to spare and only 3 other Jaegers left. It has to be you.”

It was the bitter taste in his mouth that made him say, “Why not take Bolin? You know he’d be up for it.”

“We considered it, but his arm’s not up to full capacity, and it probably never will be. Besides, our new girl is rather rambunctious already. We don’t need two of the same type in the Jaeger. The whole point of the program is sharing the load. Two halves coming together. Diversity.” Beifong crossed her arms. “You’re the other half, Ranger. You’re going to have to be.”

Mako’s lip curled. If there was one thing he hated, it was having people tell him how to do things. He’d had enough of that back in his gang days. “I don’t  _have_  to be anything. I don’t owe any of you _anything_.”

They weren’t there to cover the costs of medical. They weren’t there when Mako kept reliving the experiences of a near Ghost Drift- reliving his brother almost dying over and over, his presence slipping out of his grasp again and again and again. They weren’t there in Tampa after ten thousand people died. They weren’t there, and Mako didn’t owe them jack shit.

“Maybe you don’t.” Beifong’s voice wasn’t gentle, but it was a type of neutral that encouraged consideration. Screw that. Mako forced himself through the motions of walking. Left foot. Right foot. Left. Right. Left. “But don’t you think that this world deserves a little hope? A hero?”

A laugh with no humor escaped him. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, Marshal, but I’m no hero.”

“That’s not what your brother said.” Mako’s blood ran cold and he whirled around without thinking. Beifong’s face split into a smirk and, not for the first time, Mako was in awe of the woman. “He’s in the helicopter. I’ll give you five minutes to tie up loose ends here, Ranger. We already have your things.”

vi.

Mako heard of Korra before he met her. He had yet to decide whether or not that was a good thing.

Beifong gave him a decent lowdown on Korra’s personality and habits, though she didn’t tell him much. Said the fun came with meeting her. If he knew everything about her before actually  _knowing_ her, it could ruin their trust in the Drift.

He settled into the base rather quickly, if only because of Bolin’s presence. His brother had a habit of making wherever they were turn into home. It was a talent of his, one that Mako always appreciated, even if he never said it.

People around the base were friendly to him, patted him on the back, welcomed him aboard. Mako was standoffish, but his personality was balanced by Bolin’s amicability and his ability to “translate” Mako’s words into acceptable social speech. A grunt turned into a “thanks” and a shrug turned into a “that was actually pretty incredible but I’m too emotionally stunted to tell you so.” People found Bolin charming, and if Mako was being honest, they probably found him charming in some weird way, too. Or rather, he never actively antagonized anyone, so no one antagonized him. It was a system that worked, in Mako’s opinion. He’d never been good at making friends.

Korra, on the other hand, was notorious for making friends with anyone and everyone. She’d saved the lives of basically every person on the base at least once and no one hesitated to sing her praises. Not to mention, her old Jaeger, Nova Avatar, was infamous world wide- even Mako, who ignored the news in favor of working, knew of her. Fourteen drops in two years. Fourteen kills.

She and her co-pilot, a woman by the name of Asami Sato, had been shoo-ins for piloting the experimental Jaeger, but during the test run something had gone awry. Asami had been easing into a neural overload before Korra had managed to cut the Drift. No one could make any sense of it. Korra had been completely fine, while Asami had faced all the damage. It was as if the Jaeger was choosing her pilots.

This trend continued, no matter how many trainees they threw at it. Usually they paired someone up with Korra, but sometimes they jammed two rookies in there to see what would happen. In those cases, both of them overloaded, no matter how Drift Compatible they were. Asami didn’t work, and new blood didn’t work either.

That was where Mako came in.

Well, at least, he thought so. No one really knew how he fit into this, though he supposed there must be some rhyme to this reasoning. What the hell it  _was_ , well, that was the question.

He met Asami Sato after two weeks on base. She managed to bypass the keypad lock on his door and waltzed into his room as if she owned it. Given her reputation as the base’s mechanic, she probably at least designed it.

“Hmm.” She pursed her lips. Something about the way she was looking at him felt less like sizing-up and more like an appraisal. “Oh, she’ll  _like_  you.”

Before he could manage so much as “what”, she turned on her heel and left. Down the hall, he could hear her yell, “Half an hour, training room. Hope you’re good with a staff, Mako!”

vii.

Mako was good with a staff.

Korra was better with a staff.

Beifong was tough and hard as nails but even Mako could feel the amusement radiating off of her as he got his ass handed to him  _again_. Bolin and Asami were less subtle and didn’t bother to stop laughing between beatings.

Of course, he wasn’t all bad. He got a few hits in, too, and they counted points instead of downs. Right now it was ten to six. Korra looked like she was having fun, of all things, smiling and swinging.

_When was the last time I was that happy?_

The thought threw him off-kilter and he landed sky high again. Korra’s dark face appeared in his line of vision, blue eyes wide and glinting with something predatory.

“Eleven to six.” She grinned. Her smile was pretty. “You’re falling behind, Cool Guy.”

“I think that’s enough, Korra.” Her master called from the side. Tenzin was middle-aged, with a beard that jutted from his chin in a near-triangle formation. He wore a deep red cape that brushed the ground as he swept over to them. “I see you’ve already come to a conclusion."

Korra grabbed his hands and hoisted him up before he even realized it. He met that smile again and realized for the first time that he was much taller than her. “Right. Question time, first: What’d you think of me?”

“Uh.” Mako said intelligently. “You… weren’t bad.”

Korra’s eyebrows shot up. “Not bad? Ouch.” She turned to Bolin, with whom she was apparently already acquainted. “What’s it take to impress this guy?”

“What? I said not bad!”

“Which is his version of  _‘you’re pretty amazing and I’m too socially awkward to admit it’_.” Bolin translated helpfully. Mako flushed bright pink.

“That’s not-”

“Well,” said Korra loudly. “I want you as my partner, if it means anything. You okay with that?”

And he’d be damned if it hadn’t been the first time in a while that someone had asked him what he wanted. Huh.

“I-”

viii.

“-Am regretting this.”

Bolin glanced up from his magazine, utterly unaffected. “Is this because you think she’s hot?”

“That’s not- you  _know_  that’s not-”

“Mako, we’ve Drifted.” Bolin flipped a page. “I know you have a weakness for pretty girls. Your weakness being that you don’t know how to talk to them.”

Mako wanted to throw his hands up in the air and scream. He settled on pacing and making a loud, frustrated noise. “That’s- She’s a little attractive, but I’m not so unprofessional as to let that become a problem in a life-or-death situation.”

“You know, I remember a few interesting thoughts about how hot you find girls who can kick your ass.”

“ _Bolin._ ”

The magazine closed. “Right. I’m listening. Proceed, Old Man Winter.”

“It’s just,” Mako exhaled heavily. “I’m not- I don’t want to…”

“Kiss her? Because we both know that’s a lie. That fight was getting a little hot and heavy if you know what I-”

“ _I don’t want to get back in the Drift, Bolin_.” It came out as a rush of air the swept the oxygen from his lungs. Bolin’s jaw clicked shut. “I mean- I- not with her. I’ve read her record- she’s brash and thoughtless and jumps into situations without thinking.” The ‘a lot like you’ goes unsaid. “She’d be. Um. Irresponsible. I’m like the opposite of irresponsible. We wouldn’t be compatible.”

Bolin looked at him with something like sadness in his eyes. “This doesn’t have anything to do with her, does it, Mako?”

No, it didn’t. His new partner was the furthest thing from his mind. What he was really worried about was the fact that he’d been reliving the Tampa Bay over and over each night since they’d arrived at the base, the fact that he could still feel the tingle of that aborted ghost drift.

Mako was supposed to protect Bolin. It was his job. But since Bolin wasn’t one of the risk factors right now, he figured it wouldn’t be too selfish to be honest for once in his life. “…I’m not ready to go back in the Drift, Bolin. I don’t  _like_  being a pilot.”

And maybe the two of them had known this all along- years and years of sharing memories, bodies, _brains_  must have clued Bolin in on his feelings- but neither of them had really expected him to say it out loud. Bolin looked winded and Mako could hear his own heartbeat rattling in his skull like it was trying to escape.

Bolin threw his arms around Mako’s neck and said “sorry” like he had something to apologize for. Maybe he did. Mako didn’t really know anymore.

ix.

Striker Raava was beautiful.

“You like her, huh? Of course you do, she’s my handiwork, after all.” Varrick, the eccentric that the Marshal had mentioned, was… eccentric. He didn’t seem capable of sitting still for more than two minutes, and even then Mako figured he’d be the type to tap his foot and count every precious second of his time that was being wasted.

He could hardly believe such a weirdo had built such an amazing machine. But. Well.

Mako took to ignoring him as he walked towards the Jaeger. He pressed a hand to her foot and swore he felt her  _breathe_.

Korra popped her head out from behind the leg. She was grinning. She didn’t seem to do much else. “Awesome, isn’t she? Asami’s a genius.”

Varrick sputtered behind Mako. “I’m the genius here- I made all the designs-”

“And all Asami did was build them. All of them. The entire Jaeger. Asami built the entire Jaeger. Did I mention that Asami built the entire Jaeger?”

Varrick made a sound that fell somewhere between sad beached whale and dying penguin. Mako felt his lip twitch. “You wound me, Korra.”

“Yeah, yeah, Crazy.” Korra gestured in the other direction. “Get to the controls. We’re taking our first test drive today, remember?”

Varrick grumbled something about ungratefulness before disappearing, his assistant on his heels. How someone could ever put up with him for more than ten minutes was beyond Mako, but he figured that Zhu Li must have the patience of a saint. That, or an impressive ability to ignore him.

Something nudged his arm. A look down told him it was Korra’s elbow.

“So, Cool Guy, you ready to get this thing started?”

x.

“Follow the usual rules: clear your mind, trust your partner, accept the Drift as it comes, and don’t-”

“Chase the rabbit. We know, Tenzin.” Korra’s tone was all exasperated humor. “It’s just a test Drift and we’re not rookies. Don’t worry so much.”

She looked right at him as she said the last part, as if she could sense his tension from across the cockpit. He managed to school his features into casual indifference and nodded at her. She made a face and slid back into place.

Tenzin sighed over the comms. “Alright. Initiating bridging sequence in five… four… three… two…”

xi.

“Mako!”

Shit, no no no no, not again, fuck-

“Mako, I need you to listen to me, okay? Mako, it’s a memory, it’s all a memory, it’s not  _real_ -”

-he knew the colors of his parents’ Jaeger he knew they were in there he knew because he knew them anywhere he knew because whenever they were fighting he always watched on the news and made sure Bolin was in the other room so he wouldn’t see always made sure to keep the volume down low so his little brother wouldn’t worry always made sure to hope and wish and keep his eyes glued to the screen until the fight was over until he was sure that Mom and Dad were coming home  _safe_ -

The fight was over. Mom and Dad weren’t coming home. They were never coming home.

“Mako! Mako, please, you have to stop. You chased the rabbit, Mako. This isn’t real. It’s just a memory. Calm down.”

He wished he could destroy every single one of those damn Kaiju, wished he could make them all disappear, how dare they take away his parents, how  _dare_ they-

“Wake  _up_ , Mako!”

xii.

Korra’s presence was noticeable only because she didn’t bother hiding it. Mako didn’t turn around, but he felt her sit down next to him and swing her legs over the edge. “It wasn’t your fault you know.”

He nearly snorted. “You’d be the first to say so.”

“Yeah, well, I’m being serious.” Korra nudged him. “Something was up during the Drift. It’s usually overwhelming, which is why people sometimes follow old memories, but we’re not newbies. Neither of us should have fallen in. But Raava- it was like Raava had-”

“-Forced me to.” Mako had been thinking about this a lot, but he hadn’t found a way to put it into words until now.

Korra brightened. “Exactly! Instead of chasing the rabbit, it was like you were tied to it and dragged along.” That did get a snort out of Mako, and Korra lit up like a light bulb. “The robot smiles!”

Mako indulged her. “Only when my batteries are running low.”

“If you need a recharge, I’m sure Varrick’s got some stuff-”

“Yeah, no. No thanks.”

Silence fell between the two of them for a while.

“I’m sorry.” He finally said. “Beifong shut us down because of me.”

Korra waved a hand. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll get out there soon. Besides,” Her smile quieted. “She was already looking for an excuse to keep me from fighting.”

He didn’t know if he should tug on that string, but Korra had already seen him at his worst. Not like he could screw up much more. “Why?”

She looked surprised for a second before relaxing. “Oh, I guess you didn’t really see because you were caught in the memory. Plus we didn’t get to Drift all the way through. Uh. Well. Everyone has dead people, Mako.”

His stomach dropped. “Oh.”

“It wasn’t my parents, or anything. Not like you. My old mentor, his name was Aang and he- he used to pilot Avatar.” Korra’s expression suddenly smoothed over. Her eyes were far away. “He and Lin were close. He was like a father to her…”

“…What happened?”

“Eight years ago the attacks started picking up again- you know how it was. I was only seventeen and so ready to get out there. Lin wasn’t the Marshal back then- Aang was. She was the one in charge of my training most of the time and didn’t think it was my time yet but I kept pushing and pushing. Aang agreed to go out with me, the crazy bastard. He was sixty-six, already retired.”

Korra pulled her knees up to her chest. “I was dumb and underestimated the Kaiju. Jumped in throwing punches and didn’t think about the danger. Aang- he-” She stopped for a second. Paused. Took a breath. “He was ripped straight out of the cockpit. We were still Drifting.”

The Ghost Drift Mako had felt hints of back in Tampa. “Shit.” He breathed.

“Yeah, shit.” It was the first time Korra’s laughter had sounded anything but genuine. She rolled up her sleeves to show the burns she’d gotten from piloting alone. The same ones Mako had on his body. “Beifong kept me under lock and key for a while after that. I spent a long time resenting her for it, but now I get that all she wanted to do was keep me safe. She still does. The second she heard about Raava, she’d flipped a shit and refused to let me anywhere near it. Asami and I had actually tested it while she was away on business.”

Mako remembered the subtle pride in Beifong’s voice when she was talking about Korra two weeks ago at the wall.  _“She’s promising.”_  She’d said.  _“She could end this once and for all.”_

“I want to try again.” Mako blurted without really thinking. Korra’s head shot up, her eyes wide. “I mean, if we’re allowed.”

A slow smile spread Korra’s lips. “I think you mean  _when_ , Hotshot.”

xiii.

Korra spent the next week grinding down on Beifong’s patience. The amount of secondhand annoyance Mako felt on behalf of the woman was staggering.

Unfortunately for Korra, she didn’t get the privilege of breaking the Marshal before the next attack. Two of the three functional- that is, excluding Raava- Jaegers were dispatched immediately. Ranger Tahno, who Mako had come to hate intimately, tossed the pair of them a triumphant look over his shoulder as his three-man team loaded the Crimson Wolfbat. Korra flipped them off right before the cockpit closed.

“Sooooo…” Korra rocked back and forth on her toes. Lin shot her a tired look.

“No.”

“Why?”

“You’re not needed. It’s a single Category IV. Wolfbat and…” Lin sighed at the name. “ _Bum-Ju_  can handle this.”

Korra crossed her arms. “Then, why didn’t you send us instead of Tahno?”

“Because you have no experience!” Lin turned back to the readings, barking at a man on a nearby computer. “Contact Wolfbat and ask them why the hell they’re talking so long. They’re not going to get it before the Miracle Mile, at this rate!”

Korra kept talking, undeterred. Mako made the wise decision to not step up with her, but watched with admiration as Korra demanded the Marshal’s attention. “We’re drift compatible, Lin! You saw the numbers. Everything was going fine-”

“Until you nearly blew up the damn hangar!” Beifong finally exploded, slamming her fist down on a nearby table. “Get the hell out or shut the hell up, Korra, because we don’t have _time_ -”

A loud whining sound split through the Shatterdome before every single light blinked off. The command room grew eerily quiet without the hum of machinery.

Varrick, seated in his swivel chair, pawed at the controls. “What the hell?”

“That was a Kaiju roar.” Someone said. “Do you think it-?”

“No, that’s impossible. Kaiju can’t- they don’t  _adapt_. They just get bigger.”

“Whatever it was, it shorted out every electronic device in a twenty-five mile radius, at least,” said Varrick, who shook his emergency walkie-talkie sadly. “Completely fried.”

Kya, who had been working the board, finally threw off his headset. “Lin, we have no contact with Wolfbat or Bum-Ju. And… the last I saw of the monitor, there was a  _second_  Kaiju headed right towards them.”

The place exploded into chaos.

“ _Two?_ ”

“There’s never- that’s never-“

 _“_ They come out one at a time! It’s like- like a rule!”

“ _Shut up!_ ” Beifong roared. Everyone did. “Now is not the time to panic. Kya. Are you sure of what you saw?”

Kya’s back straightened and she nodded. “I definitely saw another signal.”

Mako could see the Marshal’s jaw clench through the sparse moonlight. “Alright. What about the back up generators?”

“Fried.” Varrick waved a hand towards nothing. “Whatever this was, it took out  _everything_.”

Asami ran in at that moment, panting. “Including Wolfbat and Bum-Ju.” She stopped in front of Beifong, posture tense and serious. “Marshal, Avatar shut down during repairs. It’s highly likely that the same happened out there.”

“You’re telling me that two of our best Jaeger teams are sitting  _ducks?_ ”

“I’m telling you that someone needs to do something fast or those Kaiju are going to tear up half of our already small supply of Jaegers and clear that Miracle Mile to the city.” Asami shot a glance at Korra. “And I’m also telling you that Raava runs on nuclear.”

 Beifong opened her mouth to say something, closed it again, and deflated. She looked tired. Old, for the first time.

“Alright.” Korra shot up immediately, but Beifong silenced her with a hand. “We have a contact about forty miles off that should have working copters. We’ll send up an emergency flair- it’s an archaic system, but it should work. The rest of you will work on getting the control panel back up and running.” A sharp noise of assent cut through the crowd as people buzzed to life around them. The Marshal shot both of them a severe look. “Meanwhile, I want you two to get in that Jaeger.”

“We won’t disappoint you, Marshal.” Korra said, though what she really meant was, ‘ ** _I_  ** _won’t disappoint you_.’

“You’d do well not to, Ranger. Give that Kaiju hell.” Beifong said, though what she really meant was, ‘ _I love you, be safe_.’

xiv.

It was surprisingly easy to fall back into the Drift. Korra made it easy.

There was no rabbit chasing or trauma. It was more like reading a long book from start to end, only to realize he’d missed a few things. He suddenly knew everything about Korra, though new thoughts and feelings drifted in and out of the Bridge like skipped passages of text. She must have felt it, too, because she gave him a grin before facing forward.

“Told her we were compatible.”

They fell silent, the steady slice of copters through the air comforting. Not that they really needed to say anything, anyway. That was what the Drift was for.

“Pork buns?” He could feel Korra’s nose wrinkle. His twitched up to do the same. “Of all the amazing foods in the world, your favorite is pork buns?”

Was she snooping through his memories?

“You’re snooping through my memories!” He accused.

Korra’s eye roll could be heard in her voice. “Not snooping, browsing. I mean, we’ve got a good minute before drop so ‘s not like I have anything else to do. But seriously, pork buns?”

“Yeah, well your favorite food is… seaweed noodles?” Mako made sure she could feel his disgust over her link. She made sure he could feel her offense.

“They’re good!”

“I think you’d be the only person on this planet who’d say so.”

“Your brother likes them.  _He_  said so.”

Mako snickered. Leave it to Bolin. “He probably only said that because he was trying to flirt with you.”

“What?” Korra paused, obviously sifting through his memories. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” Before he could say any more, the alarms signaling their arrival started beeping. He tensed on instinct. Korra’s predatory excitement swept over him and managed to coax him to the threshold of confidence. “Looks like it’s time.”

“Sure is,” Korra said, voice clear and thoughts clearer. “Ready when you are, Cool Guy.”

xv.

They returned to base, two broken Jaegers and five very alive pilots in tow. Roaring applause and cheers met them with every step they took, and Korra was positively beaming.

Beifong stopped them at the door to the command room.

“You did well.” She said, though there was something soft in her eyes. Something like happiness.

Korra puffed out her chest. “Shouldn’t have expected anything less from your two best pilots.”

Asami appeared at Korra’s side in an instant, looking so relieved it was exhausting. Mako, from the Drift, knew a lot more about Asami now then he had before. He also had a newfound appreciation for her.

“Damn, I forgot how stressful it was to watch you Drift with someone else.” She said, pulling Korra into a hug. Korra let herself be held, and Mako could see her cheeks squish into a smile.

The last time Korra had Drifted with someone other than Asami, the other person had died and Korra had barely come back.

A heavy weight swung into him from behind, jarring him from his thoughts. “Glad you’re back, bro.”

Mako felt a smile of his own coming on as he turned and wrapped his arms around Bolin. “Glad to be back.”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck, okay, I’m going! I’m going!” Mako didn’t break the hug, but did look up to see Tahno being pushed by his partners, Ming and Shaozu. They shoved him the last few feet so hard that they nearly barreled into the Marshal.

Korra pulled away from Asami. “Tahno?”

“I just-  _shut the fuck up, I’m doing it, I’m doing it_ -” He hissed back at his two pushy friends. His lips twisted in ugly patterns, though when he finally looked up at Korra and Mako, his eyes were honest. “I just wanted to say thanks. For, you know, saving us. And stuff.”

Mako’s eyebrows shot up so far he suspected they’d flown off his forehead. He turned to Korra, half-expecting some smartass comment, but found her in a similar state of awe.

“Um,” Korra said faintly, looking very confused, “It was no trouble. Really.”

“No trouble.” Mako echoed. “It was, uh, our pleasure.”

Tahno gave them both weird looks but appeared satisfied enough. He walked back over to his partners, muttered an “are you happy now?” and settled back in line.

Even Beifong took a moment to collect herself. “Well,” She began, and all excited chatter hushed in order to give her full attention. “I want to congratulate you all on a job well done, first of all. Especially Rangers Mako and Korra, who led a successful rescue mission and stopped what could have been a disastrous attack on Hong Kong.” There was no applause this time, because everyone could feel the ‘but’ coming along. “However, there will be no time for celebration. Varrick has some alarming calculations that need to be addressed. If he’s right-”

“Which I always  _am_.”

Beifong shot him a look strong enough to make his mouth close with a click. “ _If_ he’s right, we’ll reach the point where we’re getting multiple attacks a  _day_.” She made eye contact with everyone within her line of vision and lingered on Mako and Korra. “If we reach that point, we won’t survive. Which means that we all have to put in our best and get ourselves prepared for the last attack.”

xvi.

This ever-elusive “last attack” happened to be a rather simple one:

1\. Get in the water.

2\. Get to the Breach.

3\. Throw nuclear weapons into the portal.

4\. Get the hell out of there before the whole damn thing explodes.

Of course, Varrick said, there were risks. The main one being them failing to preform number 4. Plus, they had less backup than had previously been projected, with the destruction of the two Jaegers and the two teams being injured. The only Jaegers left were Avatar and Raava, but Avatar didn’t have any assigned pilots yet. They were working with too many unknowns for him to be certain how this was going to play out.

Mako tuned him out after that point, because he started babbling about getting another Kaiju brain to Drift with. As if doing it once wasn’t hell enough. Mako was starting to think that Varrick didn’t have an actual brain- just neurons that bounced around inside his skull and had ideas sometimes. It made more sense than the alternative, which was that Varrick was a reasonable human being who thought it made sense to share a mindscape with an alien.

So, Mako tuned him out and instead watched Korra, who exuded an easy, unwavering confidence. A confidence that was turning out to be contagious enough that Mako didn’t even bat a lash when Varrick told them flat out that it was a 50-50 shot of survival.

Instead, he asked, “When’s the drop?”

Varrick looked to Beifong, who pointedly avoided looking at Korra. “We’re giving you two days.”

xvii.

Mako spent Day One helping up around the Shatterdome. He wasn’t that good with wires, but Asami said she needed manpower and if there was anything he could do, it was lift things and put them where he was told.

The pair of them worked in companionable silence for an impressive hour before Asami finally said, “So.”

Mako stopped rifling through the box of scraps he’d been told to organize. “So.”

“Korra.” Asami abandoned all pretense of working and dropped down right next to him. He didn’t know whether he should follow suit, but could already sense an awkward conversation coming up and figured it’d be best to keep his hands busy. “What do you… think about her?”

 _Well, she’s incredible and strong and amazing and I’m pretty sure I’m at least slightly in love with her_ , was what he thought, but he wisely refrained from saying all that. “She’s… nice.”

“…Nice.”

“Yeah.” He evaded eye contact by pretending to sort. Good call, Mako. “Nice.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Asami’s lip trembling. He saw the laughter spilling over before he heard it.

“You’re cute.” Asami said when she finally calmed down. “But- oh man- you’re just as bad as Bolin says.”

Mako huffed. “Bolin’s been talking about me, has he?”

“Usually good things.” She smiled that easy smile of hers that Mako saw in so many of Korra’s memories. “Like the whole orphan thing, the escaping-from-the-gang thing, the saving-his-life-in-a-Jaeger thing. Good things.”

“Let me guess. Not so many good things about my people skills.”

Her head dipped in a nod. “Those would be the not-so-good things.” She stretched out her legs in front of her. “Korra’s really something, you know that, right?”

Mako knew. Hell, Mako knew.

His mouth felt dry. “Yeah.”

“She’s stupid and heedless and jumps in a little too early, but she’s grown into someone I’d follow anywhere.” Asami’s smile grew wistful and Mako stopped pretending to work. “I met her back when she was seventeen. She wasn’t… mature back then. She was cocky. I didn’t really pay much attention to her personally, but as a mechanic, I hated her. She was always around the hangar, pestering people to help her sneak into a Jaeger. After Aang… well, she shut up about it. She went into the simulator and trained day in and day out instead- I saw her there every night when I was walking back to my room after work. Looked more serious than I’d ever seen her in my life.”

She took a breath. “When she finally asked the Marshal to let her back into the program, I vouched for her. Beifong wasn’t happy. Said that if I thought Korra was so ready, maybe I should get in that Jaeger with her.”

“And you did.”

“I did.”

They watched the workers bustle around fixing the Jaegers for a while. Mako’s fingers abandoned his box and ghosted on Asami’s shoulder.

She stood up after a good ten minutes. “You’re a good guy, Mako. Survive this, and make sure she does, too.”

She walked away after that. Mako was glad. He didn’t really know if he could promise her anything.

xviii.

Day Two was spent exclusively with Bolin. Both of them spent a majority of it pretending that Mako wasn’t going to die the next day.

In the cafeteria, they served seaweed noodles. Korra sat down next to the two of them and said nothing. She stared him straight in the eye and slurped.

They also served pork buns. It was the first time anyone other than Bolin and Korra had heard him laugh, and he suspected that it was the first time anyone had heard him laugh so  _hard_.

At night, he and Bolin settled into their shared room quietly. Bolin had been chatting all day, but the second the lights went out, his voice died. Mako took a deep breath.

“Bolin.”

A pause. Then, a quiet, “Yeah, bro?”

“I love you.”

Bolin knew that. Mako knew he knew because of the Drift.

But sometimes, it was important to  _tell_  people things.

“I love you, too.” Bolin’s voice bobbed up and down. Mako moved to make space in his bed and tucked his little brother under his arm the second he crawled in. It was small and uncomfortable but it reminded Mako of nights of secret pillow forts and shared laughs and facing the world together before they even knew how bad the world could be. He fell asleep, and, for the first time in a long time, felt light.

xix.

“We’re sending you out first,” Beifong explained as people filtered into the command room. “It’s not optimal, but we need to run a few last minute checks on Avatar to make sure she’s ready in case a Kaiju tries to knock out the electricity again. We would wait, but Varrick predicts another double attack. We need you down there and in position to fire the missiles the second the portal opens.”

Korra glanced around. “Where _is_ Varrick?”

“In the city with Zhu Li,” The Marshal grimaced. “Getting another Kaiju brain to drift with.”

Korra projected the disgust Mako felt in her expression. “Are you serious?”

“Lin,” Tenzin appeared to their right, decked out in his piloting gear. His face was grave and his wrinkles seemed deeper. “Everyone is here.”

Beifong nodded at him, and Mako caught something almost gentle in her eyes. It was gone as soon as Mako had registered it, and in seconds their proud Marshal was giving them the biggest be-all-end-all pep talk of all time.

“You’ve done great work in the past few days.” She began, gesturing at the lot of them. “You’ve taken everything they’ve thrown at us and managed to preserve this base with everything you have. I thank you for your dedication.  _Humanity_  thanks you for your dedication.

“As you have done so much for us, I feel I owe you honesty. I want no illusions about this plan. It is the only plan we have. It is risky. It may not work.” She let those words settle in for a second. “This is our last-ditch effort. There’s nothing left after this.”

Her voice grew louder. “But when has that ever stopped us before?” An excited murmur swept through the gathered. “We have faced years of fighting with our heads held high and our chins up. I don’t know about you all, but sure as hell aren’t planning to give up now.” A cheer. “This isn’t about any of us individually. This is about human-kind and our hope for the future. We’re not about to let some bastards waltz in and take our planet!” Lin Beifong put her hand to her heart. “Tonight, we cancel the apocalypse!”

The roar of the crowd was deafening and sounded a lot like hope.

xx.

Mako watched over his brother’s head as Korra said her goodbyes. When she reached the Marshal, the air went still between them. Beifong stuck her hand out to shake.

Korra stepped around it and went in for a hug.

xxi.

It was only once they were underwater that things started to go to shit.

The portal opened earlier than expected, for one, and a Kaiju jumped out shrieking. Some yelling over the comms informed them that it was a Category IV, not that it really mattered, because the two of them attacked it the second they saw it.

Varrick interrupted them mid-fight. “We have a problem.”

Korra snapped her arms up, willing the sword out of one of Raava’s compartments. It came, and the Kaiju narrowly avoided being beheaded.

She grunted. “Thought you were in town, Crazy.”

“Was. Past tense.” Varrick’s usual exuberance was lacking and Mako felt apprehension creep up on him. “Me and Zhu Li managed another Drift. Turns out the Breach doesn’t work the way we thought it did.”

Mako managed a slice that nicked the Kaiju close to the neck. It wailed. “How the hell does it work, then?”

“It’s like a fingerprint identifier. Only opens when someone who’s authorized tries to get through. In this case, the authorized are the Kaiju.” Mako could picture Varrick rubbing his temples, clear as day. “The portal will only open if you have Kaiju DNA and you have to take the DNA  _in_.”

“You’re telling me,” Korra slid the sword up to match the Kaiju’s monstrous hand, hit for hit. “That we have to blow up this thing from the  _inside_?”

“Yes. But. Damn it, the missiles won’t work.”

Korra nearly stumbled. “ _What?_ ”

“Missiles shoot towards something. We have no way of knowing the composition of the Breach. If you shoot, it could just pop out the other side and not collapse the portal at all. You would need an internal explosion to do the job.” A pause. “Raava’s core is nuclear.”

Well, shit.

Korra let out a frustrated cry and Mako could only provide an assist in what was probably the most spectacular Kaiju kill of all time. Unfortunately, though, the Kaiju had a friend.

The two of them turned their sword just in time to block a blow. “We’ve got a second!”

Varrick let out a noise of distress over the comms. “A second? But the portal didn’t open a second time yet!”

“You’re right.” Mako should have realized, really. “They were ready for us. They knew.”

Mako could feel the sweat pouring down Korra’s brow like it was his own. The Kaiju roared, grabbed the sword in its giant hands, and ripped it clean off. Korra made a noise like a half-aborted scream in her throat and Mako managed to stifle his own by clenching his teeth.

“Back up.” Korra’s voice was pained. “We need it. Where is it?”

Varrick called to Zhu Li, his voice far away for a moment, before returning. “Zhu Li says they’re right on top of -”

“Right here.”

Mako felt Korra’s horror before seeing it. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been dreading sending her friends- _their_ friends-into the line of fire, but she had expected those that had been chosen and had come to terms with it. It should have been Tenzin and Bumi.

That voice belonged to neither of them.

“What the fuck,” Korra cried, “Do you think you’re doing here, Lin?”

“My job.” Lin Beifong’s voice was cool and steady.

“Like hell is it your job!” An onslaught of emotions hit Mako- vague, aborted feelings that whirled through like roulette, Korra incapable of stopping the wheel to choose any one of them. “You can’t be in a Jaeger! You’ll die!”

Before Mako could ask, the information he needed was presented right to him. A memory of Beifong telling Korra about the Mach 1 Jaegers bobbed up to the top of his consciousness, and Mako could hear Beifong explaining that, “the radiation shields weren’t so good back then, not like the fancy-ass equipment you newbies are spoiled with.” And then, another memory, one of Korra eavesdropping on a conversation between Tenzin and Bumi, Bumi saying, “We’re lucky we didn’t join when the Mach 1’s were still being used, right, Tenzin? We would’ve been dead the next time we stepped in a Jaeger.”

The sadness that Korra finally settled on feeling stole the breath from Mako’s lungs.

“Tenzin has a wife and kids, Korra. A family. I couldn’t ask him to fight this fight.”

“Lin.  _Please_.” And Mako could hear what she meant:  _You’re **my**  family_.

They heard a grunt from the other end as Avatar swung right and punched the Kaiju in the side, sending it tumbling back. Mako managed to take enough control of Raava to make her cross the distance and slice its throat with their sword. “I’m already in the Jaeger, Korra. Even if I were to turn around now, I’d be dead the second I stepped out.”

It was blunt. Too blunt. Korra choked on a cry and Mako could feel the tug that told him she was on the verge of chasing the rabbit. This was the most poorly-timed role reversal ever. “Korra, you have to listen to me, okay? Calm down. Take deep breaths.”

“I-I’m trying- I-” She was wheezing. Mako did everything he could to send her reassuring and soothing thoughts, but they were drowned out by pure panic. “I can’t- I don’t-”

“Ranger Korra!” Korra’s thoughts went still on reflex. “Stop whatever the hell you’re doing and follow orders. Your job is to blow up that damn Breach.”

It was almost funny how quickly Korra managed to get herself in control after that. In any other situation, Mako might have laughed, but right now he was leaning more towards deep relief.

Mako watched Korra blink her tears away. “Yes, Marshal.”

“Oh, thank God.” That wasn’t Tenzin or Bumi, either. It was Tahno. “Now that that’s over, can we focus on the important shit? Like the fact that the Breach is opening  _again_?”

Mako had half the mind to question Tahno’s presence, but the- the _thing_  that was crawling out of the Breach proved more pressing. It was bigger than any Kaiju he’d ever seen in his life.

“What-” Mako exhaled shakily. “What the hell is that?”

The comms crackled. “That’s…” Chaos sounded from the other end. Varrick shouted a few orders and got a frantic replies in return. When he finally came back to the mic, he sounded simultaneously floored and horrified. “A Category V Kaiju.”

None one said a thing for a few moments as the beast thundered out of the Breach. The only sound was the static of the comms.

Finally, Beifong said, “Alright, we’ll take it.”

“Of course we fucking will.” Tahno grumbled, though he didn’t seem very surprised. Neither did Korra, who, though now crying, spoke with such love and affection that Mako’s heart squeezed.

“I’ll miss you, Lin.”

And despite never having shared a brain with Beifong before, despite never having been privy to her thoughts, even Mako could feel the tenderness in her voice. “You won’t get rid of me that easy, kid. You’ll always find me in the Drift.”

xxi.

The comms were left on for a while as they dragged the Kaiju carcass to the Bridge and each noise from the fight behind them made each step harder and harder to take. It was almost funny. The last time he’d walked away from Lin Beifong had been just as difficult.

“It’s been an honor to serve with you, Marshal,” said Tahno, his voice growing fainter by the minute.

Beifong huffed, and Mako liked to think she was smiling. “The pleasure’s been all mine, Ranger.”

xxii.

Beifong and Tahno didn’t win.

They were at the edge of the Breach, just about to take the jump, when the Category V came and ripped their arm clean off. Their oxygen levels plummeted in mere seconds. Mako couldn’t, for the life of him, remember half the fight.

The only thing he remembered were Korra’s cool hands, breath returning to his lungs, and the sound of a soothing voice going, “It’s okay, Mako, you’ll be alright now. All I have to do is fall. I can do that. I can fall.”

Then, darkness.

xxiii.

It was the year 2023, Mako was in the middle of the ocean, and he and Korra had just saved the world.

Those are the first things he was conscious of. The next was that Korra still hadn’t surfaced.

“Where is she?” He demanded again. The crew had finally settled down from their celebrating, and more important questions had come up. The most pressing being: where was their hero?

Varrick sighed. “Her signal hasn’t come up yet, Mako. I don’t- I don’t know if she made it out.”

“She had to.” It sounded childish, even to Mako, but he didn’t care. “You know her. She wouldn’t just- She made it out.”

“Well, you’re right about that. Korra’s too stubborn to stay down.” There was some chatter on the other hand. He faintly heard Zhu Li’s voice. Varrick returned, sounding lighter. “There’s a chance that her transmission was busted by the explosion. We might not be picking up the escape pod, but it’s probably out there.”

Whether or not those were meant as simple words of comfort, Mako took them to heart and watched the ocean diligently. It was only after two minutes that a loud splash rocked his pod. When he spotted the identical one behind him, he jumped right into the cold water and swam to it without a second thought.

“She’s up!” He managed to spit into the comms as hoisted himself on top of the pod and pried it open. Korra laid there, pale and still. “But- shit- she’s not breathing, Varrick!”

There was some babbling in his ear but none of it made much sense to him, because his body was already working on autopilot, compressing her chest, listening for breath, checking her heartbeat, waiting for just a small sign that she was still  _alive_.

 _Everybody’s got dead people, Mako_ , Korra had said.

 _Yeah, but you aren’t supposed to be one of them,_  Mako thought.

“You have to wake up.” He pulled her body so he was cradling her, his ear to her chest, hoping, waiting. “You have to, you can’t go. You- there’s so many things I still have to tell you. You like the beach, right? I remember seeing that. Wake up, so I can take you to the fucking beach. Or anywhere. God, I’ll take you anywhere, just wake up-”

“You know,” She rasped in his ear. “Breathing would be a lot easier if you weren’t squeezing me.”

Mako squeezed her more, laughed at her groan, and cried for the first time in nineteen years. He was smiling, though. He never stopped smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!!


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